Tigress
by aemelia113
Summary: Marinette: "I love you." Chat: *cat puns* Marinette: *frustrated screeching* Chat is oblivious to the conventions of relationships, Marinette is akumatized, and cat puns and aggressive flirting ensue. Rated T for sexually suggestive dialogue, but this isn't smut. Oneshot. Cover is a shutterstock image


A/N: Tada! Another Miraculous fic, posted the same day as the last one. I told you that there would be additional fics posted during the hiatus of my DP fic, "Summoned," but I bet you didn't expect one so soon. Anyway, I'm obsessed both with Marichat and with Marinette getting akumatized, so these themes will likely appear in most if not all of my Miraculous Ladybug fics. Just to warn you. Secondary warning: Not sure if this qualifies as sin, but there is definitely an undertone of it here. Ubiquitous warning: I don't own Miraculous Ladybug or its associated characters, and yes, this was heavily influenced by the fact that I watched Catwoman for the third time last week. Onwards and upwards!

 **Tigress**

Chat Noir was _infuriating_. This time, he'd gone too far.

Marinette had tried to be serious, to finally step up and say the words: "I love you."

All she'd wanted was for him to say them back. But _no_. He just _had_ to go and make a stupid cat pun.

She'd even given him another chance, an opening to take it back and say the words. And he'd blown it even worse.

" _Chat, there's something I've been wanting to say. We've been together for three months, now-"_

" _Three glorious~ months," he'd purred suggestively._

" _And while the making out is great, I really like you, and I think we should define our relationship," she'd continued, staying on track, despite her fingers itching to bury themselves in his golden hair as she kissed him._

" _Define how?"_

" _Chat Noir, I love you," she'd said it without stuttering, without hesitation._

" _And I find you paws-itively adorable, Purr-incess," he'd replied._

" _Chaton, please. I'm trying to tell you something important. Can't you be serious for two seconds?" she'd sighed in exasperation._

" _Anything for mew. I'm your smitten kitten," he'd said with a wink._

Marinette had yelled at him to go away and practically pushed him off the balcony. She had put herself, her feelings, out in the open. She'd made herself vulnerable. And what had he done? He'd laughed at her. She should have expected that this wouldn't mean as much to him as it did to her. He probably had all kinds of girls throwing themselves at him in his civilian life. He had no reason to settle for her. But she cared about him deeply. Despite her reluctance, she'd let him into her heart. That had been a mistake. One she wouldn't soon make again.

She fingered the little bell charm at her throat. Chat had gotten her a collar to match his and she had worn it every day since. She ripped it off violently. The clasp snapped and the necklace dangled from her hand. She sniffled, trying to hold back tears. It had meant so much to her that he say the words. Marinette felt her heart breaking into bits. She swiped savagely at the tears pooling in the corners of her eyes. She was supposed to be stronger than this. She shouldn't let herself fall apart over a little disappointment. She wished that she were tougher, more emotionally stable.

She heard the flutter of the black and purple butterfly too late. It landed on the bell charm and a purple butterfly mask flickered into place around her eyes. She felt her mind go blank other than a deep, authoritative voice.

 _Tigress, you have been made to feel weak, vulnerable, easily dismissed. No more. I'll help you get revenge on Chat Noir for breaking your heart in exchange for his miraculous. And I'll make your heart hard so nothing can penetrate it again. What do you say?_

"Throw in the ability to get a little well-deserved adoration and you've got a deal, Hawk Moth," she felt her mouth utter.

It sounded strange to her, like it wasn't something she would say. But why would she have said it if that was true?

 _Granted. So are we in agreement?_

"Yes, Hawk Moth."

Tigress felt the black goo bubble over her and shroud her in darkness, but she wasn't afraid of the sudden loss of sight. She sensed a change in her body and when the haze cleared, everything was sharper. Smells had meaning, sounds were more defined, and her eyes picked out all the tiniest details. They caught sight of her reflection and she looked at herself in the mirror. She felt a soft, easily ignorable pang of shame.

She was dressed in a way that she supposed would have been considered provocative, but she couldn't bring herself to care. She admired her figure in the glass and gave her weapon an experimental twirl. Her muscles felt warm and tingly and _alive_ in a way they hadn't before the darkness swallowed her. She stretched languorously, reveling in the the power in her limbs. She felt really, really good.

 _What do you think, my dear?_

"It's _purr_ fect," she answered. "I think we should go show my little kitten."

Adrien laid on his bed, staring at the ceiling like it might hold some answers as to why he'd been thrown out of Marinette's earlier. They had been talking, and suddenly she got angry and tossed him out! He didn't know what had gone wrong.

"Plagg, what do you think happened?" he asked his kwami.

"You can be really dense sometimes," Plagg muttered around a mouthful of camembert.

"What? Did I do something?"

"Adrien, you didn't say it back," he sighed with an exaggerated eye roll.

"I don't understand."

"Look, I'm the last being to claim that I understand all of the ins and outs of human relationships. I prefer cheese. It's simpler. But what I thought _every_ moron who has ever liked a girl knew was that the whole 'first I love you' thing is super important to females. She said it to you and you never said it back," Plagg explained like it should have been obvious.

"Of course I did! I told her that she was adorable and that I was her smitten kitten. That's love!" Adrien protested.

"But you didn't say _the actual words_. Like, word for word: 'I love you, too.' That's important. You have to be very straightforward about it. No chance of confusion or misinterpretation. You say exactly what you mean," Plagg informed him.

"Oh, I'm an idiot," Adrien groaned, burying his face in his arms.

"Told you so."

"No wonder she was angry. Instead of taking the moment seriously, I made cat puns. Oh, man. I've screwed up big time. She probably never wants to speak to me again," he sighed. "I'm going to have to do something really spectacular to make it up to her. Do you think hiring a sky writer is too much?"

"At this point, I'd say that you cannot go too far with the extravagance of the apology," Plagg stated. "But that'll have to wait because while Marinette probably doesn't want to talk to you, according to the news, _someone_ does. Very badly, from the looks of things," he commented with a gesture at the screen.

Adrien hurried to unmute the program.

"We're here live at the Louvre where a new villain is calling for Chat Noir's attention specifically. Tigress has threatened to turn all of Paris into cats if he does not meet her in ten minutes," Nadia Shamac reported.

The footage showed an orange and black blur leaping around the glass pyramid, striking at people with a whip. Whoever was struck by the ball at the end transformed in a flash of light into a cat of some kind. They ranged from lions to bobcats to regular house cats. He saw Chloe turned into a small mewling kitten wearing little sunglasses on her head, which would have been funny if the situation wasn't so serious. And all of the cats invariably cozied up to Tigress and obeyed her orders to chase down the fleeing crowd. A row of assorted jungle cats in police helmets blocked many of the roads out of the square. Where was Ladybug? He had to get down there.

"Plagg, claws out!"

He pole vaulted over to the Louvre and looked around for the villain. She seemed to be rubbing the belly of an enormous panther and making purring noises. He cat-called to get her attention and was disappointed when she turned around calmly instead of looking shocked.

No, the person who was shocked was him when he recognized the girl in front of him, though barely. His jaw hit the ground.

She was dressed in attire that left little to the imagination. Her orange and black striped leggings that hugged her curves had some stripes that were transparent mesh. Her midriff was bare and her top that matched her leggings was low-cut and sleeveless. The back of it was just a bunch of black straps. Her fingers were tipped in wicked-looking black claws. She was wearing boots with heels that looked equally sharp. Her black hair was loose, and wild, and there were little tiger ears poking up out of the top of her head. Her black lipstick outlined a cocky smirk that looked foreign on her face. He swore that the canines revealed in that secretive smile were pointed. Her bluebell eyes had turned to a reflective yellow with slitted pupils. She had no mask, only a swath of orange and gray paint across her eyes. She toyed with a whip tipped in a spiky gold ball between her hands, stroking the black corded leather as she watched him watching her.

"Marinette?"

"Sorry, kitty. I go by Tigress now. I've been waiting for you to come and play with me. I've been _bored_ ~" she trilled flirtatiously.

He swallowed. This was nothing like his Princess, who blushed at the word "kiss."

"What happened, Marinette?" he croaked.

"Ugh," she groaned. "It's like talking to a brick wall sometimes. Marinette's not ho-ome," she sing-songed. "She's shoved in a box to make room for bigger and better things. I'm Tigress. New and im _purr_ oved. Don't you like the new model? I certainly have better taste in wardrobe."

She ran a hand over her body and smirked suggestively, going so far as to wink with a little tongue-in-teeth grin when he blushed. He coughed awkwardly and bit out a sharp retort to cover his discomfort.

"No, not really. I prefer Marinette."

" _Meow_ ch. I'm wounded. But really, I can't imagine why. She was so _boring_. Like making out with a dictionary, I'd imagine. Or the phone book. But we both know you're lying. If you really cared so much about that square, I wouldn't be here. Thanks for that, by the way," she laughed.

"What are you talking about?" he questioned.

"Are you really not getting it? I swear, you can be so thick-headed sometimes. Let's try this slowly. How do akumas form?" she asked condescendingly.

"Negative emotions," he answered suspiciously.

"Wow! You got it right, gold star!" Tigress mocked. "And what might Marinette have been feeling bad about, say, half an hour ago?"

His face paled when it hit him. He facepalmed. "Gah, I'm such a moron today."

"I can assure you that this is about your normal level of stupidity. It's not abnormally high right now," she taunted.

"Shut up," he muttered.

"Ooh, real witty comeback, Mr. Claw and Order. I'm _paws_ itively shaking in my boots," she snarked.

"Where did all of this sarcasm even come from?"

"Biting my tongue all the time made it sharp. But enough foreplay, can we get on with the fun stuff?" Tigress asked suggestively.

"What do you mean?"

"You know, the usual dance, with a slight variation of course. We fight, I take your miraculous for Hawk Moth, more successfully than any of the buffoons who came before me. I get to keep causing a little chaos and the boss gets to take over the city," she recited nonchalantly.

"Yeah, I don't think so."

"Aww, are you shy? Can't take me on without Ladybug? Not that I'm not down for a threesome," she teased, "but I would rather not wait for _her_ to get started here. Her white knight pure angel of goodness vibe kind of kills the mood. I'd _purr_ fer it if it was just us two _fine_ felines."

"I can take you down without Ladybug, but I'd hate for her to miss the opportunity to kick your butt. And could you stop with the really aggressive flirting? It's making me uncomfortable."

"What's the matter, Chat? Prefer spots to stripes?" she laughed cruelly.

"Ladybug will be here any second and you'll see why I do!" he snarled.

"Well, I hate to break it to you, _kitty_ , but your precious Bugaboo isn't coming. She's... otherwise occupied. Now, don't look so sad. It hardly matters. She was only barely more capable than your _pathetic_ little girlfriend. She wouldn't have been able to help you anyway even if she was here."

"Take that back!" he yowled.

"Make me, _Chaton_. Defend your Lady's honor."

With a growl, he launched himself at Tigress. She sidestepped easily and slammed him into the ground with an elbow. He felt all the air whoosh out of his lungs. He scrambled to his feet and found her standing a few feet away, flexing her claws nonchalantly.

"That was just sad. Do we need to give you a handicap or something? I could tie one paw behind my back if that would make it fair."

"What do you care about fair?"

"I don't. I just want a real challenge. You know us cats like to play with our prey before we finish it off. It wouldn't be any fun if it was over quickly," she laughed.

"You're actually kind of terrifying, you know?"

"Thank you! You really say the sweetest things, _Chaton_. Come here and let me express my _catitude_ _paw_ perly."

She rushed him, swiping and punching and kicking with eerie grace. Where had Marinette learned to move like that? She danced back to a distance when one of his own swipes got too close and struck at him with the whip. The gold ball on the end looked almost familiar...

He twisted away and leapt into the air, knocking the whip from her hand with a kick and pinning her to the ground. She didn't panic. In fact, she grinned up at him. Yep. Her teeth were definitely pointed. Her yellow eyes lit up with sensual heat. It made him really uncomfortable. Where could the akuma be hiding in her minimal attire? While he was distracted trying not to stare while still searching for the akumatized object, she wrapped her legs around his hips and flipped him over so that she was straddling him, claws digging into his shoulders.

"Now, kitty, you know I like to be on top," she teased, leaning down and rasping her tongue over his jaw.

It was weirdly like sandpaper, like a real cat, and yet it still made his face burn. She gazed down at him with a seductive grin on her face. She let go of him with one hand to let her claws roam over his chest. She stroked his cheek with the back of her hand.

"You might not have liked me before, but I knew you wouldn't be able to resist me like this," she purred, leaning in close.

He tried to think of anything to break the moment of sexual tension and turn this back into a fight.

"In your dreams, tuna breath," he blurted.

Her face contorted in anger and she hissed viciously. She raised her claws to slash at him and he took advantage of the second of distraction to shove her off of him and roll out of the way. He sprung up into a fighting stance. She recovered her balance as well and snarled at him. Before she could move, a purple butterfly outline appeared around her face. He hated seeing that hated symbol anywhere near his Princess, even this twisted version of her. She scowled at something Hawk Moth said, probably yelling at her to stop playing around and take his miraculous.

"Yeah, yeah. Stop your shouting, you winged windbag. I'm all over it," she dismissed with an eye roll.

She seized for a second as Hawk Moth sent pain through her body to remind her of her place. Chat was scared for her. Deep underneath all this, she was still Marinette and she was hurting. He didn't know how to help her, but he didn't have to. She was having none of this authoritarian control. With a growl, she swiped a hand in front of her face and dissipated the purple symbol. She straightened with a smirk.

"You can't boss me around, _Petit Papillon_ ," she scoffed. "I'm not your slave. I'm someone to whom you provided a service that will be repaid with a service. You would do well to remember that."

Chat was stunned. No akuma had ever fought off Hawk Moth on their own before. It was completely unprecedented. It made him worry about how much of Marinette was left in there.

"Now that the whiner is taken care of, we can have a little fun before I take your miraculous. But he is right that we need to speed this up. I've got places to be, people to turn into cats. You know how it is," Tigress hummed.

"How- how did you do that? Talk back to him, make him stop hurting you?"

"Superior mental strength. He's a lonely old man in a tower who has nothing better to do with his time than fight sixteen year old nemeses. He has a fancy bauble that gives him abilities, but he's weak. He couldn't handle this," she laughed, running her hands up her body suggestively. "He gets power from possessions, not from himself. I, however, am largely independent, despite how I love my toys."

Tigress struck her whip at him to punctuate her statement, and kicked him in the face as he leaned away from the strike of the weapon into the strike from her heel. They fought hard for an hour. She was taking this more seriously now, incorporating her cat army. Chat felt like the odds were against him on this. He was exhausted, but she looked like she could do this all day. His ring would start beeping soon and he hadn't even used Cataclysm. He needed a new strategy. He eyed her, trying to figure out where the akuma was. His gaze landed on the little golden ball at the end of the whip. She was rubbing it fondly, holding it near her face. A tilt of her head made it look like a necklace for a second, and it struck him. It was the bell from the choker he'd given her. It had turned into her whip. That had to be where the akuma was. Great. He now had at least half a plan. If only he could get close enough to crush it...

He retreated and watched her, thinking over all he knew about her. She prided herself on her strength both mentally and physically. She used her sexuality aggressively. She liked a challenge. She kept relentlessly flirting with him and making suggestive comments. She seemed attached to her akumatized object more so than just wanting to keep it away from him. Maybe deep down, even though she was furious with him, she still liked him and wanted him to like her back?

Whether Tigress liked him or not, she _really_ liked her cats. They weren't just an army to her. She cooed over them, gave them all individual names, and was very attentive to the demand for head scratches and petting. When Chat had thrown one of them off him, it had struck a light pole and she had cried out and run to it, fussing over its potential injuries. All of the other cats had circled around her protectively to let her take care of it by keeping Chat at bay. She also didn't seem to mind them coming up and rubbing against her legs or twining around her ankles, even when it made it harder to fight. Tigress would just sigh and scratch them under the chin before disentangling and resuming the fight. Her face would light up and remind him of his Marinette whenever one of the cats would come over seeking attention and purr as she granted it.

Wait. Attention. Cats always wanted _attention_. They wouldn't leave you alone until you showed them a little affection. Marinette had been so angry with him, yet Tigress wasn't trying to kill him. She was flirting, having fun, trying to get a reaction. She only got angry when he insulted her or defended Ladybug or brought up who she used to be. Tigress didn't want revenge. She wanted to be loved. Well, now he felt like an idiot. He'd made her feel unloved when he didn't say the words, so Hawk Moth had tempted her with the power to have a host of cats that weren't him who adored her and followed her without question.

So, Chat had figured out what Tigress's deal was. Now the only problem was figuring out how to use this information to get close enough. She wanted her affections returned, so all he had to do was flirt back. This could work. He could just pretend that she was still currently Marinette. Then he had to get close and make it seem like he wanted to make out or something and break the whip.

"Kitty!" she called. "Come down and play. I miss you. Particularly that _fine_ -"

"I'm right here, Tigress," he said, dropping down and cutting off a comment that was likely about his butt or something equally uncomfortable."And I've realized it's futile to resist my attraction to you. Your charms are too strong for me," he sighed, laying it on thick.

She looked suspicious, but ate it up. Her desire to be wanted outweighed her need for caution and her cynicism of his motivations. "I knew you'd come around. So why don't you saunter on over and tell me what you love about me."

"I love your eyes," he started, taking a step closer. He was going to get the bluebell ones back.

"I love your laugh," he continued, taking a few more steps. He would hear the one without cruelty in it again if he had any say in the matter.

"I love how confident you are, the way you carry yourself," he purred. He liked these moments in Marinette, but he also loved her shy, awkward side.

"I love the way you talk to me." About everything and nothing, always with kindness and affection in her voice.

"And most of all," he breathed, closing the distance and standing with her back pressed to his front, putting his hands on her hips, "I love how you always think of others first. It's really sexy when you stand up for the little guys."

"Well, I do adore my cats. And you're my favorite, kitten. Also, not that I'm not loving that you're being more forthcoming, but this position seems a little forward, Chat," she purred.

"And yet somehow you aren't close enough," he whispered, making her shiver.

He ran his claws down her arms until he got to the whip. He leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her jawline, causing her to close her eyes and savor the moment. Then he snatched the whip away from her and crushed the bell in his fist before she could make a move. She stumbled away from him and he would have chased her if catching the akuma hadn't been more important. If it escaped, she'd just go dark all over again if she got upset before it was defeated. Maybe he could hold onto it until LB got there. He caught it between his claws like a cat, but he accidentally grabbed too hard and squashed the evil insect. All of the black bled out of it and it was just a white butterfly, although a dead one. He felt a little bad about that, but it had turned his girlfriend into a supervillain, so he wasn't too torn up about it.

He looked around for deakumatized Marinette, but Tigress had vanished. Moments later, Ladybug swooped onto the scene, used her miraculous healing light, which fixed the poor broken butterfly along with everything else. It fluttered away over the heads of disoriented people who had been cats seconds ago. Chat paused to grab Marinette's restored bell collar, hoping she would still want it back. His Lady did the obligatory fist bump and ran off before he could ask her any questions about where she'd been. Whatever. Let her be mysterious. He had to find Marinette.

"Princess!" he called. "Where are you?"

He ran in the direction he'd seen her go, looking frantically. Where was she? Was she okay? What if she'd gotten hurt? Had she tried to climb a building and fallen when her powers were removed? Had his actions gotten her injured or worse?

"Come on, Princess. Answer me! Where are you? Please!"

He was getting desperate. There was no sign of her anywhere.

"Princess? MARINETTE!" he yowled.

"Chat?" a groggy voice came from his left.

Marinette was sitting in an alley, blinking at him. He had never felt more relieved in his life. He ran to her and scooped her into his arms, hugging her tightly, inhaling her scent. He reassured himself that she was here, that she had come back to him. She hugged back. After a long moment of embrace, they pulled back to look at one another, but not far.

"Hi," Marinette whispered shyly. "Do I even want to know what I did while I was Catwoman?"

"You remember?"

"Like, a few blurry seconds. I know for sure that I was an akuma and that it somehow involved cats. I have a shaky certainty that I was aggressively flirting with you while we fought. I think there was a whip. It's all pretty vague."

"That's probably for the best. Then again, it was all over the news, so there are bound to be some clips floating around on the web if you ever get curious," he commented.

"Great," she groaned. "Um, Chat? I didn't hurt you, did I? If I did, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean it."

"Oh, no, Princess. You didn't hurt me. And if anyone should be sorry, it's me. It was my fault that the akuma got you. You had your heart on your sleeve and I was an idiot who didn't see how serious the situation was. I know it probably doesn't make it any better, but my stupid cat puns were my way of telling you that I feel the same. I should have said the words, though. I know that now. I can't apologize enough for ever hurting you," he sighed.

"Silly kitty. I know. I shouldn't have gotten so worked up about it when I know how you feel about me without hearing the words. I forgive you," she replied with a smile.

"I'm kind of feeling the moment here, so would it be alright if I said something?"

"Go ahead," she agreed warily.

"Marinette Dupain-Cheng, light of my life, best girlfriend in the world- completely amazing, wonderful, beautiful person that makes my day with your every smile- I just wanted to tell you properly that I love you. More than words can express, with all of my heart. I'm crazy about you and always will be," he professed.

Tears pricked in her eyes and she twined her arms around his neck. "I love you, too, _Chaton_."

They came together in a chaste yet heartfelt kiss. It added a sort of promise to the words, that they would always be true. It was sweet and gentle and said everything they'd been saying with words.

When they broke apart, he slipped the necklace around her throat and she smiled fondly up at him. He pulled her close and looked into her big blue eyes with foreheads pressed together.

"It scared me to death to see you akumatized, and I'm glad it can't ever happen again, but I would not mind a repeat of that outfit under more consensual conditions," he teased.

Marinette groaned. "Not a chance, kitten. But maybe I could get some ideas~" she trailed off suggestively. His face flamed and she laughed at him. "Then again, I'm not sure you could handle it."

"Let's never talk about it again," he agreed. "So, can we go home now?"

"Is this just an awkward subject change or is this you fishing for croissants?"

"Both," he confessed.

"I love you, _Chaton_ ," she giggled.

"I love you, too, Princess."


End file.
